bob Mizer: A brief overview

Bob Mizer is a Gay God. An early influence of Hockney and Warhol.  And the first American to make a gay magazine. Mizer is yet another artist, whose work flys around instagram with little information on its subjects; outside of their bare bodies on black and white archival film.

Born in 1922 in Hailey, Idaho, Bob Mizer was a self-assured child very early on. He quickly realized he was Gay and was never known to conceal his sexuality with any false relations––something virtually unheard of during this time. During his final teenage years, in 1940s America,  Mizer started Physique Pictorial, a “body-building magazine” for fellow body-builders to use as reference for the types of bodies they aspired to walk in. The fans were instant and the publication, depicting various types of Adonis men was a quick success. 

Except Physique Pictorial was actually a gay magazine, under the ruse of proffesional, informational-style literature. You see, nudity amongst men was illegal, and photos of such a thing were, well..not the kind of thing you’d want to be found in possession of. Because of this, and to adhere to this charade of photographing Bodybuilders, Mizer photographed his models in a skimpy, miniature burlap sack. Small enough to ensure that their penises were covered–– leaving their astonishing bodies free of any cloth. This gave his subjects, straight men, a stage to show off, and in return a free photo-session. 

Young Mizer would pay his subjects $5--$10 a visit, and word of mouth got around. Soon, bodybuilders were coming to him. Most men knew Mizer was a homosexual, but it was likely his ability to conciously appear masculine that brought on the trusts of his models. Appearances were everything and strangers taking the invitation to be photographed by an effeminate man was simply not going to happen. Bob, self conscious at heart, prided himself on his ability to be butch.

As the laws of nudity changed, so did his subjects. Out were the polished and action-figure wannabes, and in were the dirty and scruffy hustlers looking to make a quick coin, and willing to drop their clothes for it. His photographs began to change too. The bodies in front of his cameras became looser, realer and more attainable. If Mizer’s work has considered homo-erotic before, there was no escaping it now. Boys to men, were now posing suggestively, and freely. 

Boys, many with little money and lack of basic means, were now being photographed for cash-only. There were no more body builders in need of photographs for their portfolios. Erections were now being photographed too. A straight man’s erect and naked body in front of an openly gay photographer became routine practice. This was High Art, and Mizer, knowing his work was risky in nature, remained professional with his models.

There are stories of extra cash being given to men who also took part in “socials”--which is now said to be an arrangement us modern folk know as a “Happy Ending”. 
As time went on, a slew of photographers, with the same idea, began popping up around the states, like Bruce Bellas under the stage name ‘Bruce of Los Angeles.” Physique Pictorial was printed less frequently and Mizer slowly closed himself off from most of the world. Filling his days with taking photos and working on Physique Pictorial. Taking little part in Television or reading. He continued to photograph men and their bodies daily, well into the early 90s before his death in 1992, often saying he simply felt compelled to. Today Bob Mizer is considered to be one of the first, if not the original-- to push boundaries depicting male homoerotic photo content during the mid 20th century.